Chapter 713

"... Ron, can you really lend this to her?"

"Of course not."

"That --"

"I know what you want to say, but now... Well, let's give it to Hermione first! However, we have to follow... Well! I'll secretly follow Hermione then, and you'll go to Maka's office to find him. After the lights are off, he seems to stay in the office and go to bed late..."

In a boy's bedroom in the Gryffindor tower, Harry and Ron were quietly discussing what to do for a while.

However, today's Hermione obviously can't be changed by the two of them.

"Speaking of it, Hermione, what happened to her?"

Harry's doubts came out when they had more or less decided on a plan to continue looking for Marca for help. On weekdays, although Hermione always likes to run to the library and is far more interested in books than other students, Hermione seems to be burying herself with books like today, which Harry has never seen before.

"Didn't she say it herself?" Ron sighed. "Looking for clues to the Horcrux."

"I know that too..." said Harry, staring at Ron angrily. "Hey, you know what I'm asking. Don't send me away with such a painless answer."

"Oh -" said Ron, scratching his scalp. "Harry, don't embarrass me. Among the three of us, Hermione thinks the most. Her mind... Yes, I guess a little, but if I guess right, I don't! If I guess wrong, it may not only solve the problem, but also make the situation worse..."

"Well, can we only find Maka first?" harriton said helplessly.

To tell the truth, he hates the feeling of powerlessness, especially when his good friend seems to have a problem.

But Ron nodded with certainty.

"If Marca, he will soon understand Hermione's current state and find the most appropriate solution," he said. "In fact, Marca, what he is good at is not necessarily those powerful magic, don't you think?"

"Well," said Harry, nodding immediately, "then... It's almost time to turn off the lights. When everyone goes to bed, we'll send the invisibility cloak to Hermione first, and then --"

"Then we'll act separately according to the plan just now," Ron continued.

About an hour later, the bedroom was completely dark as usual. Neville, who is used to going to bed early and getting up late, and Simo and Dean, who are always energetic during the day, have fallen into a sweet dream.

So Harry felt his invisibility cloak from under the bed and walked out of the door with Ron.

This is the sixth school year in Hogwarts, and they have long been used to traveling at night in the castle. It was dark all the way, and they walked smoothly from the stairs to the common room.

As for the matter of strolling around the castle without invisibility, it is naturally easy to catch. Even Hermione's side obviously didn't need something like an invisibility cloak or a phantom spell unless she was determined to stay in the library for a long time.

When they came to the last staircase from the boys' bedroom to the public lounge one after another, they nodded to each other in the dark to confirm, and finally stepped into the lounge illuminated by only a little moonlight.

As expected, Hermione came out earlier than them - she was already waiting there.

"Oh, Harry... Did you take it out?"

As soon as Harry and Ron appeared at the door opening, Hermione immediately stood up from the sofa chair by the window.

"Ah, um..." Harry pursed his mouth and didn't say anything more. He simply put his hand in Hermione's direction, "right here, you... You can use it..."

"Here?"

Because the invisibility cloak was completely invisible to her eyes, Hermione caught it in her hand only after she came into contact with halito's real object in her hand.

"Thank you, Harry!"

Not to mention Harry's invisibility cloak is very special. Even an ordinary invisibility cloak is now a very precious thing. Because the fur of the stealth monster, as its production material, has never been something that can be produced in mass, its value has always been very high. Even the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic have to go to the warehouse to sign and get it when they need to handle the case.

No matter what state of mind she is now, she is very grateful to Harry for lending his invisibility cloak.

"Then I'll go first..." Hermione said quickly after thanking Harry. "Go back! Don't worry, I'll just check again and go back to my bedroom in a minute."

Then she hurriedly turned and walked to the door opening leading to the outer corridor. Before going out, she put on an invisible cloak and disappeared in their sight in a blink of an eye.

Seeing that the portrait was gently closed again, and there was a faint murmur of the fat lady, Harry and Ron waited in the common room for a while and began to act.

……

The castle corridor at night is still as dark as ever, especially in the inner corridor without window holes.

Hermione naturally went to the library, so even if Ron couldn't see Hermione, he didn't have to worry about finding the wrong place. The office of the ancient magic Professor Harry is going to is also on the floor of the library.

Therefore, there is no need for them to walk separately until they get to the door of the library.

Of course, on the way down, they must also pay attention to the movement before and after. It's an hour after the lights out. The professor in charge of the night patrol should go back, but filch and his cat are wandering around. In addition, the ghost - Pipi ghost, which always wanders around at night, is also the object they need to pay attention to.

However, Harry and Ron knew all this well.

Filch's patrol route and rest time don't change much. Pipi ghosts usually play ball against the wall on the first floor or occupy the auditorium. It's easy to say except that Filch's cat is not easy to predict.

However, they did not expect that a figure was standing at the stairs on the second floor. When the two talents just found the figure, the other party waved directly to them, as if they were waiting for them there.

Behind the man, the moonlight outside the window became a special background. Because of the backlight, Harry and Ron couldn't see who it was for a moment.

However, it seems unwise to run when it is found. The other side is obviously not the fool of filch. If a professor, they can't successfully slip away without being found out.

No way, Harry. They had to go down the steps and keep thinking about what explanation to make for a while.

"Shh."

Harry was about to say something, but he heard the other party immediately put his index finger on his mouth and motioned him to keep quiet. Until now, he and Ron could find that it was Marca he was going to find later.

But after asking Harry to stop talking, Marca shook her hand in the corridor in the direction of the library, as if she had cast a spell. After that, he waved to them and asked them to hurry over.

"Hermione is already in the library. I put a silencing spell over there," said Marca after they both stood next to themselves. "Now, tell me what happened?"

When Harry and Ron heard this, they looked at each other again. Finally, Harry reached out and motioned to Ron to say it was better for him.

Ron nodded, turned to Marca and explained, "actually... We're not sure what's going on. It's just that Hermione said she was going to the library after this morning..."

As soon as he said this, he suddenly realized one thing - they were looking for Horcruxes. There was nothing they could not say to Maka, but since they had made up their mind to do it by themselves from the beginning, what they wanted to say now felt like "giving up halfway".

However, the idea flashed in Ron's heart for a moment. After all, the most important thing now is Hermione, and everything else is secondary.

"Well, actually..." Ron spread his hands helplessly. "We've been investigating about Horcruxes these days..."

When Ron said this, he and Harry were ready to be blamed. Because they all know that terrible dark magic items such as Horcruxes will be absolutely forbidden even to read relevant books.

But they didn't expect that Marca's expression didn't change much in the moonlight.

"You're looking up Horcruxes? Really... Forget it, don't talk about it first." he just raised his eyebrows, but even jumped over the topic first. "So Hermione went to the library to look up materials?"

"Yes, yes!" Ron nodded, but shook again soon. "But more than that, in fact... Hermione is very strange today. She has stayed in the library for too long. She hasn't left at any time except eating and going to the bathroom. Now... You see, she doesn't even want to miss her sleep time at night!"

"Hermione..."

After listening to Ron's narration, Marca sank down and thought secretly.

Since the time when Hermione changed was after she solved the misunderstanding with the African wizard in the morning, most of the problem was there. However, other possibilities cannot be ruled out.

Before long, Marca's expression seemed a little complicated.